Should America be a Christian nation?

Britain is officially a Christian nation. Because it is, America is not. That distinction was intentional because America's founders had chaffed under the abuses of a state faith. However, it is a serious mistake to believe America's founders were anti-Christian.

Fifty years ago on June 25, 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court banned prayer from U.S. public schools on the principle that America has no state religion – and is not officially a Christian nation.

It set the stage for today’s environment in which any high schooler who utters a prayer at graduation or any cross or nativity scene on public property is subjected to prolonged court challenges.

On June 20, New York City kindergarten students were blocked from performing the song “God Bless the USA” at their graduation ceremony after principal Greta Hawkins said the song could end up “offending” listeners and result in litigation. The song’s author, country music artist Lee Greenwood, said he was offended by Hawkins’ decision, “I wrote ‘God Bless the USA’ about the love I have for this country and the struggle we have gone through to remain free,” Greenwood said. “Personally, denying the children to sing ‘God Bless the USA’ offends me as a Christian.”

Kindergartners singing

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“My song is about hope, faith, spirit and pride. How could that be wrong on any level?”

But Principal Hawkins’ fear is justified. The “Establishment Clause” of the Constitution’s First Amendment is “in shambles,” thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court, which “should be deeply troubled by what its Establishment Clause jurisprudence has wrought,” wrote Justice Thomas in a recent dissent, “like some ghoul in a late-night horror movie that repeatedly sits up in its grave and shuffles abroad after being repeatedly killed and buried …frightening the little children and school attorneys …”